Single Statistics

This page includes various statistics and
lists regarding Queen and solo singles, including chart
performance, entry and dropout positions, length and writers. The
data focuses on UK singles and considers Queen and solo singles
combined, unless specified; Brian's tracks with Kerry Ellis are
excluded as they are collaborations rather than solo tracks. It
includes all singles upto and including the 'Two Sharp Pencils' remix in 2017,
although this is excluded from most sections as it failed to
chart. Downloads are not included in all sections.

Singles Facts &
Feats

Queen are the second biggest selling group of all time in
Britain, with 12.8 million sales - behind The Beatles
(22.1 million), and ahead of Abba (11.3 million), The
Rolling Stones (10.1 million) and Oasis (9.1 million)

Only two artists have had number one singles in four
different decades - Cliff Richard (50's-90's), and Queen
(70's-00's)

The Beatles are the only act to have had more top 10's
than Queen - Queen have 25 while The Beatles have 27.

'Bohemian Rhapsody' has spent 14 weeks at number one,
giving it the fourth longest stay at the top of the
charts, behind 'I Believe' (18), '(Everything I Do) I Do
It For You' (16), and 'Love Is All Around' (15).

'Bohemian Rhapsody' is also the only song to have been
the Christmas number one twice, and a number one in four
different years (1975-6 and 1991-2).

'Innuendo' is joint second in a list of number one
singles with fewest weeks on chart, with just six weeks.

Queen are 5th in a list of most top 20 hits, behind Cliff
Richard, Elvis Presley, Madonna and Michael Jackson

Queen are the most successful chart act never to have had
a transatlantic number one hit. The nearest was 'Crazy
Little Thing Called Love', which reached #2 in the UK and
#1 in the USA.

After 'Living On My Own' reached number one in 1993,
Freddie became the first artist to have recorded,
written, and produced a number one single both pre and
post-humously.

'Bohemian Rhapsody' is third in a list of the all time
best sellers, with 2.36 million copies sold, behind 'Do
They Know It's Christmas' (Band Aid) with 3.69 million
and 'Candle In The Wind 1997' (Elton John) with 4.9
million copies.

In September 2005 it was announced that in a global poll
of 700,000 people, 'We Are The Champions' was voted the
world's favourite song, beating Toxic (Britney Spears),
Billie Jean (Michael Jackson), Hotel California (The
Eagles), La Tortura (Shakira), Smells Like Teen Spirit
(Nirvana), Yesterday (The Beatles), One (U2), Imagine
(John Lennon) and Sultans Of Swing (Dire Straits).

As part of the same poll, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was voted
Britain's third favourite song, behind 'Billie Jean' and
'Thriller', both by Michael Jackson. However, this poll
seems rather bizarre as the top 10 has 'Bohemian
Rhapsody', 'Angels' by Robbie Williams, 'Welcome To The
Jungle' by Guns 'n' Roses, and seven Michael Jackson
songs (two of which I've never heard of), which goes
against every other poll that I've seen.

In December 2005 it was announced that Queen had
overtaken The Beatles to become the third best-selling
chart act of all time, in terms of combined album and
single weeks on chart. The list features Elvis Presley at
no. 1 (2,574 weeks), Cliff Richard second (1,982), Queen
third (1,755) and The Beatles fourth (1,749).

In 2012, music licensing company PPL revealed the top 10
most played Queen tracks on TV and Radio:

A Kind Of Magic

Don't Stop Me Now

Under Pressure

I Want To Break Free

Bohemian Rhapsody

Killer Queen

Somebody To Love

Radio Ga Ga

We Will Rock You

You're My Best Friend

Also in 2012, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was voted as the second
greatest rock song of all time in a Planet Rock poll
(second behind 'Stairway To Heaven' by Led Zeppelin) and
no 7 in a Classic Rock poll.

In 2015, a study scientifically proved that 'Don't Stop
Me Now' was the best "feel good" song from the
past 50 years.

Highest Charting
Singles

Bohemian Rhapsody (1)

Under Pressure (1)

Innuendo (1)

Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives (1)

The Five Live EP (1)

We Will Rock You (with Five) (1)

Living On My Own (reissue) (1)

Killer Queen (2)

Somebody To Love (2)

We Are The Champions (2)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (2)

Radio Ga Ga (2)

Heaven For Everyone (2)

Barcelona (Reissue) (2)

I Want To Break Free (3)

A Kind Of Magic (3)

I Want It All (3)

Most Weeks On Chart

Bohemian Rhapsody (17)

I Want To Break Free (15)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (14)

Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives (14)

Flash (13)

Living On My Own (reissue) (13)

We Will Rock You (with Five) (13)

Killer Queen (12)

Bicycle Race (12)

Don't Stop Me Now (12)

Heaven For Everyone (12)

The Five Live EP (12)

We Are The Champions (11)

Under Pressure (11)

A Kind Of Magic (11)

Best Worldwide Singles

Below is a list of the most successful worldwide singles, in
terms of their highest chart positions in the UK, USA and
Japanese charts. The average position for the stated charts is
given in brackets.

UK, US & Japanese Charts

Killer Queen (14)

Bohemian Rhapsody (1975 issue) (20)

Somebody To Love (22)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (22)

We Are The Champions (26)

UK & USA Chart

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (2)

We Are The Champions (3)

Another One Bites The Dust (4)

Bohemian Rhapsody (1975 issue) (5)

Killer Queen (7)

UK & Japanese Chart

Killer Queen (15)

Foreign Sand (Roger Taylor) (20)

Bohemian Rhapsody (1975 issue) (25)

Somebody To Love (27)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (33)

I Was Born To Love You (Freddie Mercury) (33)

US & Japanese Chart

Killer Queen (20)

Bohemian Rhapsody (1975 issue) (29)

Somebody To Love (32)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (33)

We Are The Champions (38)

UK Chart

Bohemian Rhapsody (1)

Under Pressure (1)

Innuendo (1)

Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives (1)

The Five Live EP (1)

Living On My Own (Freddie Mercury) (1)

We Will Rock You (with Five) (1)

US Chart

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (1)

Another One Bites The Dust (1)

The Show Must Go On (1992 reissue) (2)

We Are The Champions (4)

Bohemian Rhapsody (1975 issue) (9)

Body Language (11)

Japanese Chart

I Was Born To Love You (Queen) (1)

Foreign Sand (Roger Taylor) (13)

Killer Queen (27)

Teo Torriatte (49)

Somebody To Love (51)

Single Positions
Summary

This table shows chart performance by artist, showing the number
of singles released, the number which did not chart (DNC), the
highest chart positions (HCP) and weeks on chart (WOC). If a
single did not chart, the highest chart position is assumed to be
100. 'Queen 1973-1979' includes all singles upto 'Love Of My Life
(live)', and 'Queen 1979-1986' includes 'Crazy Little Thing
Called Love' onwards.

Singles

DNC

Best HCP

Avg HCP

Best WOC

Avg WOC

Total WOC

Queen 1973-1979

14

1

1

21.4

17

8.4

118

Queen 1979-1986

18

0

1

12.2

15

8.8

159

Queen 1989-1996

16

0

1

10.8

14

6.9

111

Queen 1997-2014

11

4

1

46.4

12

1.0

34

Roger Taylor

12

4

22

67.6

4

1.3

15

Brian May

11

1

5

43.6

9

3.4

34

Freddie Mercury

15

1

1

37.1

13

5.3

79

The Cross

5

1

74

85.2

1

0.2

1

Miscellaneous

2

2

100

100

0

0

0

Queen Overall

57

3

1

17.6

17

7.5

422

Solo Overall

46

10

1

57.4

13

2.9

129

Overall

103

13

1

39.4

17

5.4

551

Chart
Entry & Dropout Positions

(these statistics are based on the UK top 40 chart)

Highest Entry Position

Innuendo (1)

Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives (1)

The Five Live EP (1)

We Will Rock You (with Five) (1)

Heaven For Everyone (2)

I Want It All (3)

Somebody To Love (4)

Radio Ga Ga (4)

Another One Bites The Dust (Small Soldiers) (5)

Barcelona (reissue) (5)

Living On My Own (reissue) (5)

Lowest Entry Position

Back Chat (40)

Spread Your Wings (39)

Time (39)

Tie Your Mother Down (38)

Don't Stop Me Now (38)

Surrender (38)

The Amazing Spider-Man (37)

The First EP (36)

Thank God It's Christmas (36)

Now I'm Here (35)

Body Language (35)

Highest Dropout Position

Back To The Light (19)

A Winter's Tale (21)

Breakthru' (21)

The First EP (22)

Nazis 1994 (22)

Resurrection (23)

Save Me (24)

Flash (24)

Headlong (24)

Barcelona (reissue) (24)

Lowest Dropout Position

Spread Your Wings (40)

Back Chat (40)

The Show Must Go On (40)

The Great Pretender (40)

Killer Queen (39)

Friends Will Be Friends (39)

Time (39)

Living On My Own (Reissue) (39)

Now I'm Here (38)

Under Pressure (38)

One Vision (38)

Who Wants To Live Forever (38)

Surrender (38)

The #1 Singles

The table below summarises the best selling singles before,
during and after Queen singles were at the #1 spot:

Date

Single

Artists

Weeks

22 November 1975

1. D.I.V.O.R.C.E
2. Space Oddity
9. Bohemian Rhapsody

Billy Connolly
David Bowie
Queen

1

29 November - 13 December 1975

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. You Sexy Thing

Queen
Hot Chocolate

3

20 December 1975

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine

Queen
Laurel & Hardy

1

27 December 1975 - 3 January 1976

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. I Believe In Father Christmas

Queen
Greg Lake

1

10 January 1976

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine

Queen
Laurel & Hardy

1

17 and 24 January 1976

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Glass Of Champagne

Queen
Sailor

2

31 January 1976

1. Mamma Mia
2. Forever And Ever
3. Bohemian Rhapsody

Abba
Silk
Queen

1

14 November 1981

1. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
2. Happy Birthday
8. Under Pressure

Police
Altered Images
Queen + David Bowie

1

21 November 1981

1. Under Pressure
2. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

Queen + David Bowie
Police

1

28 November 1981

1. Under Pressure
2. Begin The Beguine (Volver A Empezar)

Queen + David Bowie
Julio Iglesias

1

5 December 1981

1. Begin The Beguine (Volver A Empezar)
2. Under Pressure

Julio Iglesias
Queen + David Bowie

1

19 January 1991

1. Sadness Part 1
2. Crazy
['Innuendo' not yet charted]

Enigma
Seal

1

26 January 1991

1. Innuendo
2. 3AM Eternal

Queen
KLF feat. Children Of The Revolution

1

2 February 1991

1 3AM Eternal
2. Innuendo

KLF feat. Children Of The Revolution
Queen

1

14 December 1995

1. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
2. When You Tell Me That You Love Me
['Bohemian Rhapsody' not yet charted]

George Michael and Elton John
Diana Ross

1

21 December 1991

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

Queen
George Michael and Elton John

1

28 December 1991

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. When You Tell Me That You Love Me

Queen
Diana Ross

1

4 - 11 January 1992

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Justified And Ancient

Queen
KLF featuring Tammy Wynette

2

18 January 1992

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Everybody In The Place (EP)

Queen
Prodigy

1

25 January 1992

1. Goodnight Girl
2. Bohemian Rhapsody

Wet Wet Wet
Queen

1

17 - 24 April 1993

1. Young At Heart
2. Informer
['The Five Live EP' not yet charted]

Bluebells
Snow

2

1 May 1993

1. The Five Live EP
2. Young At Heart

Queen and George Michael
Bluebells

1

8 May 1993

1. The Five Live EP
2. That's The Way Love Goes

Queen
Janet Jackson

1

15 May 1993

1. The Five Live EP
2. All That She Wants

Queen
Ace Of Base

1

22 May 1993

1. All That She Wants
2. The Five Live EP

Ace Of Base
Queen

1

7 August 1993

1. Pray
2. Living On My Own

Take That
Freddie Mercury

1

14 - 21 August 1993

1. Living On My Own
2. The Key The Secret

Freddie Mercury
Urban Cookie Collective

2

28 September 1993

1. Mr Vain
2. Living On My Own

Culture Beat
Freddie Mercury

1

22 July 2000

1. Life Is A Rollercoaster
(other chart positions unknown)

Ronan Keating

1

29 July 2000

1. We Will Rock You
(other chart positions unknown)

Queen and Five

1

5 August 2000

1.Seven Days
(other chart positions unknown)

Craig David

1

Singles
That Held Queen Off The Top

Seven Queen and solo singles have stalled at no 2 in the UK
singles charts, with the following singles preventing Queen
reaching no. 1:

16 and 23 November 1974: 'Killer Queen' held off by
'Gonna Make You A Star' by David Essex, which spent 3
weeks at #1.

11 December 1976: 'Somebody To Love' held off by 'Under
The Moon Of Love' by Showaddywaddy, which spent 3 weeks
at #1.

19 and 26 November 1977: 'We Are The Champions' held off
by 'Name Of The Game' by Abba, which spent 4 weeks at #1.
3 December 1977: 'We Are The Champions' held off by 'Mull
Of Kintyre' by Wings, which spent 9 weeks at #1.

24 November and 1 December 1979: 'Crazy Little Thing
Called Love' was held off by 'When You're In Love With A
Beautiful Woman' by Dr Hook, which spent 4 weeks at #1.

11 and 18 February 1984: 'Radio Ga Ga' held off by
'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, which spent 5 weeks
at #1

15 and 22 August 1992: 'Barcelona' held off by 'Rhythm Is
A Dancer' by Snap!, which spent 6 weeks at #1.

4 November 1995: 'Heaven For Everyone' held off by
'Gangsta's Paradise' by Coolio, which spent 2 weeks at
#1.

Charts
With Multiple Queen Singles In

There have been a total of 14 weeks over the years where two or
more Queen or solo singles appeared in the top 40. These are:

Date

Singles

22 September 1984

19. Hammer To Fall
27. Love Kills

29 September 1984

12. Love Kills
13. Hammer To Fall

6 October 1984

10. Love Kills
19. Hammer To Fall

13 October 1984

14. Love Kills
28. Hammer To Fall

20 October 1984

18. Love Kills
27. Hammer To Fall

24 May 1986

26. A Kind Of Magic
39. Time

7 December 1991

14. Driven By You
34. The Show Must Go On

14 December 1991

6. Driven By You
27. The Show Must Go On

21 December 1991

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
6. Driven By You
29. The Show Must Go On

28 December 1991

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
8. Driven By You
40. The Show Must Go On

19 June 1993

22. The Five Live EP
32. Resurrection

26 June 1993

23. Resurrection
27. The Five Live EP

23 December 1995

6. A Winter's Tale
32. Heaven For Everyone

30 December 1995

13. A Winter's Tale
27. Heaven For Everyone

Single Length

This table summarises the average length of singles, upto and
including 'Journey's End'. 'Queen 1973-1979' includes all singles
upto 'Love Of My Life (live)', and 'Queen 1979-1986' includes
'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' onwards. Reissues are included
as well as the original releases.

Number Of Singles

Total Length

Average Length

Queen 1973-1979

14

51:16

3:40

Queen 1979-1986

18

72:13

4:01

Queen 1989-1996

16

75:34

4:43

Queen 1997-2014

11

43:15

3:56

Roger Taylor

13

52:13

4:01

Brian May

11

42:53

4:05

Freddie Mercury

15

59:10

3:57

The Cross

5

20:27

4:05

Miscellaneous

2

7:17

3:38

Queen Overall

59

242:18

4:06

Solo Overall

46

182:00

3:57

Overall

105

424:18

4:02

Shortest Singles:

Save The Badger Badger Badger (1:08)

One Night In Hell (2:01)

Nazis 1994 (2:36)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love (2:43)

Flash (2:46)

Seven Seas Of Rhye (2:48)

You're My Best Friend (2:50)

Good Old Fashioned Loverboy (2:53)

Killer Queen (2:59)

We Are The Champions (3:00)

Longest Singles:

Journey's End (6:56)

Let Me In Your Heart Again (William Orbit Mix) (6:42)

Innuendo (6:30)

The Unblinking Eye (Everything Is Broken) (6:10)

Bohemian Rhapsody (5:53)

Radio Ga Ga (5:47)

You Don't Fool Me (5:24)

Why Don't We Try Again (5:22)

The Golden Boy (5:14)

Heaven For Everyone (5:08)

Singles Not
Released As 7"

There are fourteen singles which were not officially released on
the 7" format, although promos and jukebox records may
exist:

A Winter's Tale

Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen + The Muppets)

Bohemian Rhapsody (2015 reissue)

Dear Mr Murdoch (2011 version)

Flash (Vanguard Remix)

Heaven For Everyone

Journey's End

Let Me In Your Heart Again (William Orbit Mix)

One Night In Hell

Resurrection

Save The Badger Badger Badger

Say It's Not True

The Unblinking Eye (Everything Is Broken)

We Will Rock You (with Five)

We Will Rock You Vonlichten

You Don't Fool Me

Double-A Sided Singles

There are six UK Queen singles which are often thought to be
double-A sided singles, but in five of these cases the catalogue
numbers on each side clearly identify the A and B sides. The only
truly double-A sided single is 'Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The
Days Of Our Lives'. The singles are:

A: Killer Queen
B: Flick Of The Wrist

A: Bohemian Rhapsody
B: I'm In Love With My Car

A: We Are The Champions
B: We Will Rock You

A: Bicycle Race
B: Fat Bottomed Girls

A : Bohemian Rhapsody
AA : These Are The Days Of Our Lives

A: No-One But You
B: Tie Your Mother Down

Queen
Chart Performance By A-Side Author

This table summarises the chart position of singles, considering
the author of the A-side track. The table includes all Queen
singles upto and including 'Stormtroopers In Stilettos'. For the
average highest chart position, 'Keep Yourself Alive' and 'Say
It's Not True' are ignored as they did not chart. For all
'average' statistics, figures are rounded to the nearest whole
number.

Queen

Roger Taylor

Brian May

Freddie Mercury

John Deacon

Other

Overall

No Of Singles

13

4

14

15

7

5

57

Average HCP

12

2

15

11

18

17

13

Highest HCP

1

2

1

1

3

1

1

Average WOC

6

8

6

10

8

7

8

Total WOC

78

32

76

157

46

33

422

Debut Year

1985

1984

1973

1974

1976

1981

1973

Top 5's

2

3

1

7

2

1

16

Top 10's

6

3

2

10

4

1

26

Top 40's

13

3

11

14

7

5

53

Top 75's

13

3

11

15

7

5

54

Did Not Chart

0

1

3

0

0

0

3

The other writing combinations are:

Freddie Mercury and John Deacon
One single - 'Friends Will Be Friends' - highest position
14, weeks on chart 8

Brian May and Roger Taylor
One single - 'Thank God It's Christmas' - highest
position 21, weeks on chart 6

Queen and David Bowie
Two singles - 'Under Pressure' (original and Rah remix) -
highest position 1, average position 7, total weeks on
chart 18, average weeks on chart 9.

Queen and Paul Rodgers
One single - 'C-lebrity' - highest position 33, weeks on
chart 1

Queen Singles
Writer Couplings

The table below summarises the writers of tracks which appeared
as the A and B sides on singles. In most cases the B-sides were
standard across 7", 12", CD or Cassette releases, but
if this is unclear, the 7" tracks are used. For a few
singles there were multiple B-sides, so in these cases the first
B-Side is used, these being 'Death On Two Legs' on 'The First
EP', 'We Will Rock You' on 'Too Much Love Will Kill You', and
'Fat Bottomed Girls' on 'Let Me Live'. In a couple of other
cases, namely 'Thank God It's Christmas' and 'No-One But You',
the two B-sides had the same writer anyway so this makes no
difference. Downloads are generally excluded as these are
generally a single track.

UK Singles Without Promo Videos

There are a total of 8 UK singles for which no promo video was
ever made, nor live performances used in place of a standard
promo video, such as in the case of 'Las Palabras De Amor'. The
singles are:

Love Kills (Freddie Mercury)

Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow (Freddie Mercury)

Manipulator (The Cross)

My Country (Roger Taylor)

Pressure On (Roger Taylor)

Thank God It's Christmas (Queen)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Brian May)

The Business (Brian May)

An additional single is Roger's 2011
re-recording of 'Dear Mr Murdoch' - the track appeared on
Youtube, posted by the QueenOfficial account, with a video
comprising various still photos of Roger, Queen, and other
members. While it was posted by an official Queen account it's
very unlikely that a promo video for a solo track would have
pictures of the other band members in it.

For six of the singles, it is understandable why a promo video
was not made, as previous singles fared badly in the charts, but
for two of the tracks it is quite surprising:

Love Kills (no 10 for Freddie in 1984) - after the track
became a fairly big hit, it is surprising that they did
not rush-produce a promo video to promote it, in a
similar way to 'Time', which only reached no 32.

Thank God It's Christmas (no 21 in 1984) - recorded
specially for a single release, so the band or record
company were surely hoping it would be a hit. No promo
video was made, and the track was never performed live,
not even mimed, so there is no footage at all which could
be considered a promo video. This is the only proper
Queen single not to have any kind of video, even
including their debut 'Keep Yourself Alive' back in 1973.